Improved file-driver



tn'trd Statie HENRY FLAD, 0F ST. LOUIS,

MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR T0 JAMES B. EADS, OF

SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 95,786, dated ctober 12, l1869.

IMPRO'YED PILE-DRIVER.

The Schiule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lame;

To ill whom it ma/y concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY FLAD, of St. Louis, in the county of St. Louis, and Stateof Missouri, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Pile- Drivers; and I do hereby declare thel following to be a full and clear description thereof, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference 'marked thereon. v

This invention relatesto the arrangement of a movable platform between the leaders f a pile-driver, said platform being raised or'lowered by proper devices in accordance with the position of the pil'e.

` Said invention relates also to the manner of raising the ram, by fricti n-wheels, operated to clutchl or release'fromy the ovable platform aforesaid.

The machine, constructed as now to be described,

is especially applicable Ito obtain short, quick strokes of the ram, and is therefore especially adapted for driving piles in sandy soil.

To enable those herein skilled to make andi use my saidinvention, I will 'now more fully describe the same, referring herein to the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is afront View;

Figure 2 is a central sectional elevation;

Figure 3 is a plan section at line ai y of fig.\2; and

Figure 4 is a detail elevation of the device for clutching the ram.

The'operating-parts of my said pile-driver are supported in a proper frame, A, of the general form indicated in the figure. Y

To said frame the uprigbts or leaders B are connected, between which the travelling-frame G is arianged, which, at its base, has the platform O'.

In order to move the frame and platform C and C' up or down, as may be desirable, I have arranged the v-leaders B with screw-threads, b, in engagement with .which is the screw-wheel D, which has a bearing and attachment to the frame G.

'The shaft d, of said wheel, is 'rotated by the bevelwheel d', `operated in one or the reversed direction by the bevel-wheels e e respectively, upon the shaft'E.'

lever, c, is used by the operator, tomove one or the other of said wheels c el into engagement with the wheel d', thus giving an upward or downward movement'to the frame O.

vThe shaft E has .proper bearings onthe frame C, and at its ends carries the pulleys f.

A triangular bracket, G, connects the shaft E with I the'shats lilx and E, these being also further supportedl by arms projecting from said frame G, in any desired mannen On said shafts El and E2 respectively, are the pulleys j" and f, and the bands F passing about said pulleys and the pulleys f, and over the pulley g, at the top of the frame A, are driven by the drivin g-wheels H, which in turn are rotated by the power-source, in any manner desired, In this wise the wheel D is` driven, whatever may be the position of the frame C.'

At the lower end of the frame G, I arrange, in proper bearings, the shafts I, whereon are the grooved wheelsi.'

Said grooved wheels, by friction, act, when brought to a proper engagement, upon the shank k, of the ram K, the shank k being grooved in a manner corresponding to that of the wheels t'.

The wheels t, and their shafts, are suspended bythe hangers Z from the shaft E, said hangers being arranged to allow said shafts I a small vibration awayfrom the leaders B.

The shafts I, and wheels i, are rotated by pulleys lm and bands M, from the pulleysl m', upon the shaft E,` the two shafts I'turning in opposite directions.

When, therefore, the wheels 'i clutch the shank k of f the rain, by their rotary motion the ram will be raised, and in' this movement of the ram it is guided by guiderollers L, arranged on the frame O.

To cause the wheels i to clutch the shank of the ram, I arrange a clutchdevice, as follows:

The links n connect with the shl fts I and to a lever, y

N, which is pivoted, at n', to the frame C. When tbe lever N is turned about its pivot n', the links n, by

their attachment, (as in lig. 4 shown,) are caused to draw the shafts I together, bringing the wheels t in engagement with the ram, as required. Y

The lever N is raised by the links o, connecting with the piston O, of a steam-cylinder, l:., l This cylinder is arranged in the usual manner, and receives steam by a exible pipe from Aa boiler Without, so that the cylinder. may freely travel with the frame G.

The operator, .standing on the platform C', controls the admission of steam by a lever, c, which operates a valve in the steam-chest p.

Connected with this valve is a rod, p, having a curved tappet', p2, which, when steam is passing into the cylinder, rests upon the hook q.

Said hook is pivoted, at q1, to the platform C', and

has a horizontal arm, qi, extending out in the line of traverse of a prong, k', at the rear of the ram K. When the ram has risen to the proper height, the prong 7c trips the arm q2, and releases the tappet p2. from the hook q, and the valve drops to shut ofi' steam, andthus the ram is no longer raised.y rIhen, by the opening of the exhaust, the leverN is released, and the ram drops, by its gravity, upon the pile beneath.

The rod p1 will be properly weighted, so that when released by the hook q, it will drop, to close the influentvalve, and open the steam-exhaust, as required. And in order that the hook q will reset itself on the tappet p2, its forward arm q2 will beproperly weighted; then, as the operator, bythe levers c, raises the rod p1, the hookq simply falls into the tappet pi.

A pile may be raised np and put into its position.v

between the leaders B by attaching it to the platform C and causing this to rise, as above described. Thus the entire work of setting and driving thepile is ontrolled by the operator upon the platform C.

Lastly, it is plain that the stroke of the ram is regulated not only by the operator directly through the clutch-device N n and the hand-lever` c, but also by the height of the platform O' and frame O, above the pile, and that, in case a very great stroke is desired, the ram may be carried up, by the travelling frame O, to the top of the leader-frame.

4liaving thus fully described my invention,

forth. y

HENRY FLAD.

Witnesses:

GEORGE P. HERTHEL, J r., WILLIAM W. HERTHEL. 

